MORNING BUSINESS MINUTE, FRI. MAR. 10, 2006

First -- the good news. The Central Bank of Japan changed its interest rate policy, and now has the same rates as the Fed and the European Central Bank. Good -- not so good? We saw unemployment go over the 300,000 mark last week - -an important number. Also out, the Trade Balance which hit record high numbers. On that news, the Dow lost -33.46 (-0.30%) to close at 10,972.28. The NASDAQ lost -17.74 (-0.78%) to close at 2,249.72. The S&P 500 lost -6.24 (-0.49%) to close at 1,272.23. Local stocks posted mostly positive numbers. Tyson Foods (TSN) gained +3.65% to close at $13.64. JB Hunt (JBHT) added +2.23% to close at $23.39. Acxiom (ACXM) added +1.52% to close at $26.00 and Wal-Mart (WMT) lost -0.07% to finish at $45.24. We have lots of economic numbers today -- all the February payroll numbers, along with the monthly unemployment rate and wholesale inventories for February. Not too much to follow in terms in earnings. Overseas in Asia, the Nikkei went up +158.55 (+1%) to reach 16,195.46 at the mid-day break in Tokyo -- the broader Topix added +13.63 (+0.8%) to reach 1,654.64. Back in the U.S., in extended hours trading, the NASDAQ 100 Afterhours Indicator fell -0.96 (-0.96%) to close at 1,644.13.